![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phisonblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Dominating-the-Game-of-Game-Load-Times-Banner.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
What is the DirectStorage API?<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe DirectStorage<\/a> for Windows Application Programming Interface (API) is Microsoft\u2019s latest innovation focused on improving the gaming experience. First seen in Microsoft\u2019s Xbox Velocity architecture implemented in the Series S and X gaming consoles, the technology provides an optimized file I\/O and GPU resource loader through an API developed for modern hardware.<\/p>\nTo get a better understanding of what that means, consider this: when a game loads on your PC, it really only loads a portion of that game, much like a chapter of a movie. That chunk of data is loaded into DRAM so you can play through that chapter without any lags. As soon as you\u2019ve completed your objectives, however, and are ready to move to the next chapter or to a new location on the world map, the current data needs to be removed and that next chapter or area needs to be loaded into DRAM\u2014hence, the load screen.<\/p>\n
The goal of DirectStorage is to move away from the need to load game data into DRAM because of its size limitations. Theoretically, if DRAM had enough capacity, the system could load the entire game for seamless play. Most gaming PCs only have a few GB of DRAM, anywhere from 16 GB on the low end to a high end of 64 GB, which can cost around $600 today.<\/p>\n
For approximately $120, you can get a 1 TB SSD, which is much more capacity at a much lower price. DirectStorage uses the SSD as a data cache rather than DRAM, so caches can be measured in TBs instead of mere GBs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phisonblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Phisons-Second-Generation-Pro-Gaming-SSD-Is-the-Real-Deal.jpg\")
<\/a>Read: Phison\u2019s Second Generation Pro Gaming SSD Is the Real Deal<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
Streaming for seamless gameplay<\/strong><\/h3>\nPlaying a game enabled by DirectStorage will give players an experience closer to streaming a movie on Netflix. Streaming a movie is very different from downloading an entire data file of a movie to watch on a device. Streaming means movie data is delivered \u201cjust in time\u201d to display on your screen with a small buffer between the transfer and your monitor. That allows you to begin watching a movie instantly, on demand, with no load times.<\/p>\n
Instead of downloading chunks of game data to DRAM, DirectStorage will stream required game textures and other data from the SSD just in time to display the image on your screen. SSDs are so fast that games can kick off predictive reads, guessing what players might need in the next few seconds, and dropping the data that isn\u2019t needed. In the old model, games typically targeted 100 MB\/s of sustained bandwidth. With DirectStorage, that target becomes 2400 MB\/s\u201424 times faster.<\/p>\n
Say in your game you jump onto your mount to head to the next town. The system will dump the current town\u2019s data and set up for the town you\u2019re heading to. If you suddenly decide to go back to the first town\u2014you forgot to replenish supplies, for instance\u2014the system can pivot fast enough to tee data back up for that location.<\/p>\n
DirectStorage uses the speed and high performance of SSDs to take some of the burden off the CPU. The DirectStorage system uses the GPU to carry out the data compression and decompression tasks. When the CPU had to do that work, it used up valuable resources and often led to latency.<\/p>\n
Loading times aren\u2019t the only aspect that gets improved with DirectStorage. It can also greatly enhance texture streaming. When it comes to graphic textures in a game, there\u2019s no such thing as too much detail. DirectStorage can render highly detailed textures and push them out much farther than players are used to today. That helps make the gameworld feel even more real.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phisonblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ioplus.jpg\")
<\/a>Read: I\/O+ Technology Firmware Unleashes Next-Gen Gaming<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/h3>\nManufacturers help bring DirectStorage to life<\/strong><\/h3>\nWith DirectStorage delivered as an API, making the most of it will require that game and PC component vendors get on board and optimize their products and solutions to use the technology.<\/p>\n
For instance, AMD\u2014a leading provider of CPU, GPU and chipsets\u2014has been in close collaboration with Microsoft, game studios and Phison to ensure that DirectStorage capabilities are available on their entire software and hardware stack. One notable result of that collaboration is SmartAccess Storage<\/a>, a bundle of technologies that significantly improve load times by speeding up texture streaming and data decompression.<\/p>\nNvidia is another company aiming to optimize systems to use DirectStorage. Their RTX IO<\/a> suite, announced back in late 2020, is expected to deliver almost-instantaneous game loads, higher frame rates, better texture streaming and reduced in-game stuttering. The company says that DirectStorage and RTX IO, either on their own or (preferredly) together, will enable heavier compression in games, which will decrease overall game sizes.<\/p>\nOf course, all of this innovative technology and advanced capabilities are useless if the games themselves aren\u2019t built to take advantage of them. That\u2019s why the gaming industry and players alike are highly anticipating the October release of Forspoken, a high-action role-playing game developed by Luminous Productions and published by Square Enix.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phisonblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Embracing-the-Future-of-Gaming-Banner.jpg\")
<\/a>Read: Embracing the Future of Gaming<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
Features and benefits of DirectStorage<\/strong><\/h3>\nAMD<\/a> reports that DirectStorage includes the following features to improve a game\u2019s I\/O performance:<\/p>\n\n- \n
\n- \n
\n- I\/O batching<\/strong> \u2013 maximizes throughput with multiple simultaneous workloads<\/li>\n
- Asynchronous execution<\/strong> \u2013 simplifies asynchronous queuing, dispatch and notification of I\/O requests and transfers<\/li>\n
- Request prioritization<\/strong> \u2013 developers can prioritize requests to deliver the smoothest game-playing experience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
With the DirectStorage API, load times are almost nonexistent. That\u2019s because the game only needs to load textures relevant to the player\u2019s starting area, not the whole \u201cchapter,\u201d as before. Other benefits include higher frame rates, more detailed and faster texture streaming, and smaller game sizes.<\/p>\n
In addition, GPU makers can put more of the cost of making the graphics card into the actual GPU instead of the GDDR (GPU DDR or RAM). (Traditionally, GDDR memory accounts for nearly 50% of the video card\u2019s component cost.) And instead of being limited to just 16\u201332 GB of GDDR, gamers get an SSD with up to 4 TB capacity to store all the graphics\u2014which are fetched just in time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Technical requirements and support for DirectStorage<\/strong><\/h3>\nAs of now, Windows 11 offers full support for DirectStorage. Windows 10 offers partial support, but it\u2019s unclear at this point what limits will be imposed.<\/p>\n
To take full advantage of the capabilities of DirectStorage, you\u2019ll need a 1 TB or larger NVMe SSD. While performance advantages max out at 2 TB because it\u2019s related to the number of NAND die up to a point, heavy gamers might still benefit from a 4 TB SSD simply for the storage capacity.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll also need to use Microsoft\u2019s standard NVMe driver, as RAID is currently not supported, and DirectX 12 hardware support.<\/p>\n
When it comes to video cards, right now you can choose between AMD\u2019s SmartAccess Storage and Nvidia\u2019s RTX IO, although it\u2019s certain that other manufacturers will get in on the game once DirectStorage begins to flex its muscles and gamers see real-life performance gains.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/h3>\nPhison delivers SSD performance optimized for gaming<\/strong><\/h3>\nTo read data from the SSD, the DirectStorage API uses parallel I\/O. Phison\u2019s E18 SSD<\/a> delivers the highest performance in this high-queue-depth read workload, with up to 7500 MB\/s transfer speeds. The company\u2019s SSDs take gaming requirements<\/a> seriously, and can handle heavy gaming workloads such as install, texture streaming, game patching and bulk loads.<\/p>\n
To get a better understanding of what that means, consider this: when a game loads on your PC, it really only loads a portion of that game, much like a chapter of a movie. That chunk of data is loaded into DRAM so you can play through that chapter without any lags. As soon as you\u2019ve completed your objectives, however, and are ready to move to the next chapter or to a new location on the world map, the current data needs to be removed and that next chapter or area needs to be loaded into DRAM\u2014hence, the load screen.<\/p>\n
The goal of DirectStorage is to move away from the need to load game data into DRAM because of its size limitations. Theoretically, if DRAM had enough capacity, the system could load the entire game for seamless play. Most gaming PCs only have a few GB of DRAM, anywhere from 16 GB on the low end to a high end of 64 GB, which can cost around $600 today.<\/p>\n
For approximately $120, you can get a 1 TB SSD, which is much more capacity at a much lower price. DirectStorage uses the SSD as a data cache rather than DRAM, so caches can be measured in TBs instead of mere GBs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
Streaming for seamless gameplay<\/strong><\/h3>\nPlaying a game enabled by DirectStorage will give players an experience closer to streaming a movie on Netflix. Streaming a movie is very different from downloading an entire data file of a movie to watch on a device. Streaming means movie data is delivered \u201cjust in time\u201d to display on your screen with a small buffer between the transfer and your monitor. That allows you to begin watching a movie instantly, on demand, with no load times.<\/p>\n
Instead of downloading chunks of game data to DRAM, DirectStorage will stream required game textures and other data from the SSD just in time to display the image on your screen. SSDs are so fast that games can kick off predictive reads, guessing what players might need in the next few seconds, and dropping the data that isn\u2019t needed. In the old model, games typically targeted 100 MB\/s of sustained bandwidth. With DirectStorage, that target becomes 2400 MB\/s\u201424 times faster.<\/p>\n
Say in your game you jump onto your mount to head to the next town. The system will dump the current town\u2019s data and set up for the town you\u2019re heading to. If you suddenly decide to go back to the first town\u2014you forgot to replenish supplies, for instance\u2014the system can pivot fast enough to tee data back up for that location.<\/p>\n
DirectStorage uses the speed and high performance of SSDs to take some of the burden off the CPU. The DirectStorage system uses the GPU to carry out the data compression and decompression tasks. When the CPU had to do that work, it used up valuable resources and often led to latency.<\/p>\n
Loading times aren\u2019t the only aspect that gets improved with DirectStorage. It can also greatly enhance texture streaming. When it comes to graphic textures in a game, there\u2019s no such thing as too much detail. DirectStorage can render highly detailed textures and push them out much farther than players are used to today. That helps make the gameworld feel even more real.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>Read: I\/O+ Technology Firmware Unleashes Next-Gen Gaming<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\u00a0<\/h3>\nManufacturers help bring DirectStorage to life<\/strong><\/h3>\nWith DirectStorage delivered as an API, making the most of it will require that game and PC component vendors get on board and optimize their products and solutions to use the technology.<\/p>\n
For instance, AMD\u2014a leading provider of CPU, GPU and chipsets\u2014has been in close collaboration with Microsoft, game studios and Phison to ensure that DirectStorage capabilities are available on their entire software and hardware stack. One notable result of that collaboration is SmartAccess Storage<\/a>, a bundle of technologies that significantly improve load times by speeding up texture streaming and data decompression.<\/p>\nNvidia is another company aiming to optimize systems to use DirectStorage. Their RTX IO<\/a> suite, announced back in late 2020, is expected to deliver almost-instantaneous game loads, higher frame rates, better texture streaming and reduced in-game stuttering. The company says that DirectStorage and RTX IO, either on their own or (preferredly) together, will enable heavier compression in games, which will decrease overall game sizes.<\/p>\nOf course, all of this innovative technology and advanced capabilities are useless if the games themselves aren\u2019t built to take advantage of them. That\u2019s why the gaming industry and players alike are highly anticipating the October release of Forspoken, a high-action role-playing game developed by Luminous Productions and published by Square Enix.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>Read: Embracing the Future of Gaming<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
Features and benefits of DirectStorage<\/strong><\/h3>\nAMD<\/a> reports that DirectStorage includes the following features to improve a game\u2019s I\/O performance:<\/p>\n\n- \n
\n- \n
\n- I\/O batching<\/strong> \u2013 maximizes throughput with multiple simultaneous workloads<\/li>\n
- Asynchronous execution<\/strong> \u2013 simplifies asynchronous queuing, dispatch and notification of I\/O requests and transfers<\/li>\n
- Request prioritization<\/strong> \u2013 developers can prioritize requests to deliver the smoothest game-playing experience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
With the DirectStorage API, load times are almost nonexistent. That\u2019s because the game only needs to load textures relevant to the player\u2019s starting area, not the whole \u201cchapter,\u201d as before. Other benefits include higher frame rates, more detailed and faster texture streaming, and smaller game sizes.<\/p>\n
In addition, GPU makers can put more of the cost of making the graphics card into the actual GPU instead of the GDDR (GPU DDR or RAM). (Traditionally, GDDR memory accounts for nearly 50% of the video card\u2019s component cost.) And instead of being limited to just 16\u201332 GB of GDDR, gamers get an SSD with up to 4 TB capacity to store all the graphics\u2014which are fetched just in time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Technical requirements and support for DirectStorage<\/strong><\/h3>\nAs of now, Windows 11 offers full support for DirectStorage. Windows 10 offers partial support, but it\u2019s unclear at this point what limits will be imposed.<\/p>\n
To take full advantage of the capabilities of DirectStorage, you\u2019ll need a 1 TB or larger NVMe SSD. While performance advantages max out at 2 TB because it\u2019s related to the number of NAND die up to a point, heavy gamers might still benefit from a 4 TB SSD simply for the storage capacity.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll also need to use Microsoft\u2019s standard NVMe driver, as RAID is currently not supported, and DirectX 12 hardware support.<\/p>\n
When it comes to video cards, right now you can choose between AMD\u2019s SmartAccess Storage and Nvidia\u2019s RTX IO, although it\u2019s certain that other manufacturers will get in on the game once DirectStorage begins to flex its muscles and gamers see real-life performance gains.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/h3>\nPhison delivers SSD performance optimized for gaming<\/strong><\/h3>\nTo read data from the SSD, the DirectStorage API uses parallel I\/O. Phison\u2019s E18 SSD<\/a> delivers the highest performance in this high-queue-depth read workload, with up to 7500 MB\/s transfer speeds. The company\u2019s SSDs take gaming requirements<\/a> seriously, and can handle heavy gaming workloads such as install, texture streaming, game patching and bulk loads.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\u00a0<\/h3>\nManufacturers help bring DirectStorage to life<\/strong><\/h3>\nWith DirectStorage delivered as an API, making the most of it will require that game and PC component vendors get on board and optimize their products and solutions to use the technology.<\/p>\n
For instance, AMD\u2014a leading provider of CPU, GPU and chipsets\u2014has been in close collaboration with Microsoft, game studios and Phison to ensure that DirectStorage capabilities are available on their entire software and hardware stack. One notable result of that collaboration is SmartAccess Storage<\/a>, a bundle of technologies that significantly improve load times by speeding up texture streaming and data decompression.<\/p>\nNvidia is another company aiming to optimize systems to use DirectStorage. Their RTX IO<\/a> suite, announced back in late 2020, is expected to deliver almost-instantaneous game loads, higher frame rates, better texture streaming and reduced in-game stuttering. The company says that DirectStorage and RTX IO, either on their own or (preferredly) together, will enable heavier compression in games, which will decrease overall game sizes.<\/p>\nOf course, all of this innovative technology and advanced capabilities are useless if the games themselves aren\u2019t built to take advantage of them. That\u2019s why the gaming industry and players alike are highly anticipating the October release of Forspoken, a high-action role-playing game developed by Luminous Productions and published by Square Enix.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>Read: Embracing the Future of Gaming<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/p>\n
Features and benefits of DirectStorage<\/strong><\/h3>\nAMD<\/a> reports that DirectStorage includes the following features to improve a game\u2019s I\/O performance:<\/p>\n\n- \n
\n- \n
\n- I\/O batching<\/strong> \u2013 maximizes throughput with multiple simultaneous workloads<\/li>\n
- Asynchronous execution<\/strong> \u2013 simplifies asynchronous queuing, dispatch and notification of I\/O requests and transfers<\/li>\n
- Request prioritization<\/strong> \u2013 developers can prioritize requests to deliver the smoothest game-playing experience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
With the DirectStorage API, load times are almost nonexistent. That\u2019s because the game only needs to load textures relevant to the player\u2019s starting area, not the whole \u201cchapter,\u201d as before. Other benefits include higher frame rates, more detailed and faster texture streaming, and smaller game sizes.<\/p>\n
In addition, GPU makers can put more of the cost of making the graphics card into the actual GPU instead of the GDDR (GPU DDR or RAM). (Traditionally, GDDR memory accounts for nearly 50% of the video card\u2019s component cost.) And instead of being limited to just 16\u201332 GB of GDDR, gamers get an SSD with up to 4 TB capacity to store all the graphics\u2014which are fetched just in time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Technical requirements and support for DirectStorage<\/strong><\/h3>\nAs of now, Windows 11 offers full support for DirectStorage. Windows 10 offers partial support, but it\u2019s unclear at this point what limits will be imposed.<\/p>\n
To take full advantage of the capabilities of DirectStorage, you\u2019ll need a 1 TB or larger NVMe SSD. While performance advantages max out at 2 TB because it\u2019s related to the number of NAND die up to a point, heavy gamers might still benefit from a 4 TB SSD simply for the storage capacity.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll also need to use Microsoft\u2019s standard NVMe driver, as RAID is currently not supported, and DirectX 12 hardware support.<\/p>\n
When it comes to video cards, right now you can choose between AMD\u2019s SmartAccess Storage and Nvidia\u2019s RTX IO, although it\u2019s certain that other manufacturers will get in on the game once DirectStorage begins to flex its muscles and gamers see real-life performance gains.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/h3>\nPhison delivers SSD performance optimized for gaming<\/strong><\/h3>\nTo read data from the SSD, the DirectStorage API uses parallel I\/O. Phison\u2019s E18 SSD<\/a> delivers the highest performance in this high-queue-depth read workload, with up to 7500 MB\/s transfer speeds. The company\u2019s SSDs take gaming requirements<\/a> seriously, and can handle heavy gaming workloads such as install, texture streaming, game patching and bulk loads.<\/p>\n
With DirectStorage delivered as an API, making the most of it will require that game and PC component vendors get on board and optimize their products and solutions to use the technology.<\/p>\n
For instance, AMD\u2014a leading provider of CPU, GPU and chipsets\u2014has been in close collaboration with Microsoft, game studios and Phison to ensure that DirectStorage capabilities are available on their entire software and hardware stack. One notable result of that collaboration is SmartAccess Storage<\/a>, a bundle of technologies that significantly improve load times by speeding up texture streaming and data decompression.<\/p>\n Nvidia is another company aiming to optimize systems to use DirectStorage. Their RTX IO<\/a> suite, announced back in late 2020, is expected to deliver almost-instantaneous game loads, higher frame rates, better texture streaming and reduced in-game stuttering. The company says that DirectStorage and RTX IO, either on their own or (preferredly) together, will enable heavier compression in games, which will decrease overall game sizes.<\/p>\n Of course, all of this innovative technology and advanced capabilities are useless if the games themselves aren\u2019t built to take advantage of them. That\u2019s why the gaming industry and players alike are highly anticipating the October release of Forspoken, a high-action role-playing game developed by Luminous Productions and published by Square Enix.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AMD<\/a> reports that DirectStorage includes the following features to improve a game\u2019s I\/O performance:<\/p>\n With the DirectStorage API, load times are almost nonexistent. That\u2019s because the game only needs to load textures relevant to the player\u2019s starting area, not the whole \u201cchapter,\u201d as before. Other benefits include higher frame rates, more detailed and faster texture streaming, and smaller game sizes.<\/p>\n In addition, GPU makers can put more of the cost of making the graphics card into the actual GPU instead of the GDDR (GPU DDR or RAM). (Traditionally, GDDR memory accounts for nearly 50% of the video card\u2019s component cost.) And instead of being limited to just 16\u201332 GB of GDDR, gamers get an SSD with up to 4 TB capacity to store all the graphics\u2014which are fetched just in time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As of now, Windows 11 offers full support for DirectStorage. Windows 10 offers partial support, but it\u2019s unclear at this point what limits will be imposed.<\/p>\n To take full advantage of the capabilities of DirectStorage, you\u2019ll need a 1 TB or larger NVMe SSD. While performance advantages max out at 2 TB because it\u2019s related to the number of NAND die up to a point, heavy gamers might still benefit from a 4 TB SSD simply for the storage capacity.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll also need to use Microsoft\u2019s standard NVMe driver, as RAID is currently not supported, and DirectX 12 hardware support.<\/p>\n When it comes to video cards, right now you can choose between AMD\u2019s SmartAccess Storage and Nvidia\u2019s RTX IO, although it\u2019s certain that other manufacturers will get in on the game once DirectStorage begins to flex its muscles and gamers see real-life performance gains.<\/p>\n To read data from the SSD, the DirectStorage API uses parallel I\/O. Phison\u2019s E18 SSD<\/a> delivers the highest performance in this high-queue-depth read workload, with up to 7500 MB\/s transfer speeds. The company\u2019s SSDs take gaming requirements<\/a> seriously, and can handle heavy gaming workloads such as install, texture streaming, game patching and bulk loads.<\/p>\n<\/a>Features and benefits of DirectStorage<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
Technical requirements and support for DirectStorage<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Phison delivers SSD performance optimized for gaming<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phisonblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Copy-of-Phison-Gaming-Solutions.jpg\")